In the meantime, we’re left with a quality album, and I get to say that far too rarely to take it for granted. But if he wants to go down as one of the GOATs, he still needs that classic album, that Ready to Die, that GKMC. If Wale goes down in hip-hop history as a gifted emcee who also made some hit songs, there are a million rappers who would kill for those stats. The Gifted is a collection of tracks from an unarguably talented emcee, but the point at which a collection of music becomes an album, a singular work with a focus and unity strong enough to truly make an impact, Wale still hasn't reached that point. Whatever you felt may have been lacking on his last project is immediately forgotten when. This effort from Wale takes you back a few offerings but takes you forward at the same time as you can feel the growth and experience hes gained. But the cost of that versatility is focus. 5.0 out of 5 stars Wale is THE GIFTED Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2013. When you’re dope enough to sound dope rhyming on everything, you end up rhyming over everything. Call it the blessing and curse of true talent.
Cole, Kendrick, etc.-Wale doesn't have a distinctive sound. After going through trials and tribulations that would have doomed the careers of lesser MCs, the Maybach Music.
Ultimately though, as much as I try to focus on the present and forget about the past, listening to The Gifted sounds like listening to an artist who still doesn't really know who they are as an artist. But the truth is bangers just aren't his strength, and what’s wrong with wanting to hear someone at their strongest? The Gifted is a collection of tracks from an unarguably talented emcee, but the point at which a collection of music becomes an album, a singular work with a focus and unity strong enough to truly. If he can make a booty-shaking anthem as good as "Pop That," I’ll take it.
For the record, I’m not interested in something as cliché as wanting Wale to only make “conscious” records. Wale, the D.C.-based hip-hop artist who was dropped from Interscope after his 2009 debut, Attention Deficit, and signed to rapper Rick Ross’ Maybach Music Group imprint at WB, turns out to be.